Monthly Archives: May 2011

Lots of alcohol and malt in the aroma with a hint of pear. The ale had a fruit and pear flavor combination at the initial sip, followed by a peppery alcohol burn. The beer coats the tongue nicely and stays malty throughout the entire sip.

This was a good beer, nothing bad about it, but not special; three beer caps.

Lots of great memories from my visit to New Orleans come to mind when I drink an Abita beer. My wife and I were there years back during the month of August, a time of year that is very warm and humid; I was staying hydrated with beers. I always had an Abita at hand, either an amber Amber or Jockamo. Take a look below for some beer pictures from that trip.

Like this:

The weekend I was in Solvang I noticed a sign that read Solvang Brewing Company; I made a mental note of it in case I needed a place to drink a beer. The opportunity to visit didn’t present itself Saturday, but Sunday after breakfast, the family wanted to be tourists and I just wanted a beer, so I walked right in. While I was having breakfast I searched on my phone and was able to find a local article about the future opening of the Brewery, this is where I found out they actually brewed a few beers and had a good line-up of options. Breakfast was terrible at The Little Mermaid, had I known this in advanced, I would have opted for an early lunch and a beer at the brewery. The article I found online, mentioned that they updated classic Danish dishes for the bar, something I’m sure I would have enjoyed.

I spoke with Lauren, the bartender, about the Solvang Brewing Company and told her I was looking forward to tasting their beer lineup, but she sadly informed me that they only had one beer, their Odin Oatmeal Stout. I was told that about a week prior, there was a fire in the neighborhood and it resulted in an overnight power outage, this of course ruined the beer that was brewing. When I showed up Sunday, that’s all they had, the Odin Oatmeal Stout and had ran out of their Hef, IPA, and Pale Ale. The oatmeal stout had a chocolate, molasses, and all the roasted aromas you are familiar with. The beer was very tasty with and had a nice hoppy bitterness to it, rounded nicely with the malty sweet undertones; 3 Beer Caps for this one.

I enjoyed a warm pretzel when I was there and it was served with melted cheese and mustard. Since I did not have any of their dishes or the rest of their beer, this has me thinking of an overnight trip to enjoy some beer and Danish food. If you are near Solvang, this place is worth you checking them out based on the food and beer menu.

Like this:

Last weekend the family and I took a drive up Interstate 101 and after a brief stop in Santa Barbara, we ended up in Buelton California; we got away from the big city to celebrate my father in-law’s 65th birthday. On Saturday we took a quick drive to Solvang to attend the Datsun Roadster Show, this was part of the reason for us coming up here, my father in-law likes these cars and is slowly restoring one he originally bought in 1968.

Rewind to Friday, just my luck, our hotel was within walking distance from the Firestone Walker Taproom. My experience with the place wasn’t the best, but the beer somewhat made up for it. Below are the brief notes from the six beers I had a chance to drink.

Union Jack IPA
Aroma: big punch of citrus aroma, lots of hop.
Taste: great hop and citrus flavor, one right after the other; great flavors throughout.
Very bitter finish, but so good. My favorite of the bunch!
Rating: 5 Beer Caps

Selma’s Honey Blonde
Aroma: honey, lots of it.
Taste: lots of carbonation and lots of sweetness from the honey; might have been a bad keg. Honey overpowering, didn’t like it at all.
Rating: 1 Beer Caps

I ordered some fish tacos as I was not that hungry, they looked promising, but they disappointed. I didn’t like the fact that the tortilla was cold and that they were flour; it needed a lot more sauce as they were very dry. We had a few issues with the seating situation and they had to split our party up. The two groups didn’t get the food at the same time and had to leave at different times, luckily like I mentioned, we were only a block away from the hotel. It was an off night for the kitchen, but I could clearly see them bust their ass for a very busy house. Our servers and service was great, but I have to fault the host for not communicating with servers. I wanted to go for the beer, that part I really enjoyed, but the food wasn’t the best and the whole experience either. I’ll stop again when I get a chance, I hope the experience will be different then.